Publications

Near-misses, incidents and accidents are generally analysed in detail when they occur, and action plans are put in place afterwards. Checks and audits identify gaps or non-compliances which require corrective actions. However, the management of safety should not only be based on input perceived as being negative. It is also very important to promote good safety results and outstanding behaviour through positive means. This will encourage a positive approach towards safety by transport function personnel. Beside the encouraged day to day acknowledgement of safe behaviour, recognition programmes are a way to positively promote transport safety. This Transport Safety Information provides guidance on recognition programmes targeting the road safety stakeholders, either individuals, teams or organisations.

This publication gives an overview on the most commonly available vehicle related safety equipment. The aim of this publication is to inform the reader on pieces of equipment that can either be mandatory due to legislation or can be considered to improve the safety performance although not mandated. Furthermore, this publication gives advice on how to manage the maintenance of transport equipment.

Road transportation is one of the highest risk activities in the Industrial and Medical Gases Industry. A proactive monitoring process is required to provide management with a reliable and positive means for identifying levels of compliance with standards, regulations and procedures and potential unacceptable levels of risk from their transport operations. The most common methodology is a “Transport Safety/Compliance Audit”, which can for example cover internal processes or contractor performance, but there are also other means such as regular analyses of tachograph and on-board computer data and spot checks; driver assessments. Non-compliance with work instructions, operating standards, legislative requirements, rules and policies can create substandard conditions that increase the risk of incidents in the field of transport operations. This Transport Safety Information provides advice on monitoring compliance and achieving an acceptable level of risk within transport operations through an internal auditing process. The principles apply equally to transport operations managed within the gas companies or with external hauliers.

The root or basic causes of the majority of all incidents in the industrial and medical gases industry are unsafe behaviours by people (employees, contractors, managers etc.), not failures of plant or equipment. Even immediate causes that may be classified as unsafe conditions are usually created, or allowed to persist, through the behaviour of a person or a group of people. Transport is one of the highest risk activities in the industry and blame for incidents is often put on the drivers prematurely. Root causes for unsafe driver behaviour are often a result of a poor safety management system. This Transport Safety Information (TSI) provides advice on how to guide transport management and drivers to create an ‘interdependent’ safety culture. The goal is to help achieve an environment that promotes an open communication between employees and management to improve their overall safety performance. The topic of human factors in general is extensively covered in EIGA’s Safety Information - Human Factors series of documents and is not the focus of this publication. This TSI focuses on management’s and employees’ behaviour within transport operations. The aim is to help managers and drivers understand how their behaviour influences transport safety.

In the industrial and medical gas industry, road transportation is one of the highest risk activities. Not only can road vehicle accidents result in severe injuries to gas companies’ employees, contractors’ personnel or to third parties, but operations can also be severely impaired. In order to learn from road vehicle incidents that have occurred, they shall be thoroughly investigated, analysed, documented and reported. The objective of these activities is to identify actions that will reduce the risk of these incidents reoccurring. This Transport Safety Information provides advice on vehicle incident investigation management. This publication does not provide guidance on how to handle vehicle and product recovery after an incident. For information on this topic, see EIGA Doc 81, Road vehicle emergency and recovery.

The transport of gases is carried out by drivers from gases companies and/or transport contractors. It is critical for the gas companies and their transport contractors to ensure that the drivers are recruited and managed according to established requirements to minimize risks when driving bulk and cylinder vehicles (>7.5 tons). This safety information gives advice on recruitment of bulk and cylinder vehicle drivers involved in the transportation of gases, whether gas company employees or contractor drivers. The requirements cover assessment of driving ability at the time of recruitment. Additional assessment on specific delivery equipment such as cranes, tail lifts, mounted forklifts and other product transfer equipment would be conducted only after drivers have received additional training on these aspects. It is intended for managers, supervisors, drivers and other transport function personnel who are involved in transportation activities or driver recruitment.

In the industrial and medical gases industry, the transport of gases to the customers is often carried out by contractors acting as transporters or carriers. In most cases the contractor provides personnel (for example drivers) and certain transport equipment (for example truck, semi-trailer tractor, chassis for swap bodies / containers and driver’s equipment). Hence, the contractor’s personnel are directly responsible for transport safety. The employees of the contractors also act as representatives of the gas companies towards the customers. For these reasons, it is critical that gas companies choose their contractors diligently, train them for the transport of industrial and medical gases, monitor their performance closely and take action if they perform poorly. This safety information provides guidance on the minimum requirements for the selection, qualification, and performance monitoring of contractors that provide equipment, personnel, and services for the transport of industrial and medical gases.

ADR (European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road) requires training of persons involved in the transportation of dangerous goods in accordance with chapter 1.3 and training of the vehicle crew according to chapter 8.3. National road regulations require training for the driver to obtain a licence or permit to operate the type of vehicle used for transport. However, the experience in the gas industry demonstrates that the knowledge and skills acquired from this training need to be supplemented with training specific for the industrial and medical gases industry to ensure the safe distribution of gases. This Safety Information document gives advice on the type of training drivers and other transport function personnel should receive when working with products of Class 2 of ADR for the industrial and medical gases industry.

It is critical that the managers of gas companies and transportation companies ensure that they have processes in place to reduce the risk of rollovers and other serious vehicle incidents, to avoid any impact on human life, human health, material and environmental damages. Vehicle incident investigations have shown that the majority of these incidents are avoidable. Many of the causes are related to lack of training or knowledge; people’s ability to react to high risk situations; human behaviour, for example non-compliance with rules or safe driving practices; inadequate organisation and management processes. This safety information provides advice on reducing the risk of a vehicle rollover and other serious incidents on the road and is intended for managers, drivers and other transport function personnel who are involved in transportation activities or driver training.

On the road transportation of gases and equipment can often be the highest risk activity for gas companies and their providers of transport services. Complying with the legislative and regulatory requirements of operating a transport fleet needs to be supplemented with requirements and guidance specific for the industrial and medical gases industry to prevent one of your drivers or vehicles from being involved in a serious incident. The key issues concerning transport safety have been divided into a series of key topics, one Transport Safety Information document will be published for each of these topics. The goal is to provide guidelines for managers, drivers and other transport function personnel which, when complied with, can help prevent serious transport incidents. This first transport safety information document provides an overview of the Transport Safety Information being made available for EIGA and non EIGA members working within the industrial, medical gases and general transport and logistics industry.